


The Chemical Dilemma

by Neko_Johnny



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: 221B Baker Street, Amnesia, M/M, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Mycroft Being a Good Brother, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson Friendship, Sherlock Holmes and Experiments, Sherlock is a Mess, Temporary Amnesia, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29847222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neko_Johnny/pseuds/Neko_Johnny
Summary: Sherlock receives a briefcase containing a few unknown purple chemicals from his brother Mycroft. Spilling one of the tubes of the chemical has some interesting results of memory loss and the ability to act like other people or animals. Will Sherlock be able to remember who he is and what his true purpose in all of this might be?
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Kudos: 3





	1. Case delivery with a side of John

It was an early cloudy morning outside 221B Baker Street. The clouds coming in over the small street were dark puffy cotton balls showing signs of rain later that morning. The street was starting to get busy with the early morning workers and your daily pedestrians walking around grabbing food at Speedy’s and other close restaurants, but for this street, 221B was going to be strange. Not the sort of strange you might know of but one of well fun you might say. 

Inside this flat, Sherlock was up late again working on his experiments, this time testing on some bone tissue. He was mixing all sorts of chemicals left and right on the kitchen table. John, on the other hand, was fast asleep upstairs. In the small flat, he lived in, that is... until a bang at the door happened.

John let out a deep grown and lifted his head from his fluffy memory foam pillow. He turned his head looking over at the alarm clock, it was reading 10 past 5 am earlier than when he normally wakes up. He flips over on his back looking up at the cream sealings of his small bedroom trying to focus on the beams of light shining upon it from the small window. 

“God who is it now.” he rubs both his eyes then looks back at his clock. He props himself up from his bed and slips on his white slippers. John starts to make his journey across his dimly lit flat still glassy-eyed from being awakened so suddenly. 

Dragging his feet across each of the wooden floorboards of his flat. Each creaking after each step he takes the banging at his door is still going on, starting to drive him nuts. “Hold your horses, I am coming! Just trying to find the damn door…” John trips over the edge of his carpet falling face-first on the cold floor.

“God that hurt.” finally waking him up enough to see where he was going then propping himself up again of the wood trying to make it over to that door. He grabs the golden round knob and turns it took a peek outside. Lestrade was at the door dressed and ready to tell John some news. John shuts the door again removing the chain lock off and opening the door fully.

“So, what brings you here this early in the morning Greg… I see you got a briefcase with you today as well.” he was holding onto the door starting to drift off and with this lack of sleep, he just wanted to go back to that nice warm bed with his angel of a pillow.

Lestrade rubs the back of his neck letting out a small chuckle, “Mycroft wanted Sherlock to test some new chemicals for him that are in this case, it seems like down at the lab they were having some issues.”

John lets out a big yawn and his eyes somewhat get wide, “...What kind of issues?” Some concern started to show on his tired face, if Mycroft cannot deal with it then you know something bad was about to happen.

“Well, that’s up for Sherlock to find out, and god I hope he can figure it out soon.” he hands the black leather case over to john. He grabs it and starts to drift off again while Lestrade is explaining what the chemicals do from where the scientists left off on.

“Seems like one of those scientists’ inmates another but I think there is no need to repeat it. Call me if you figure something out otherwise, I say head back to sleep you both have a long day ahead.” John blinks getting out of sleep-like trance smiles back even though he has no idea what he was given. 

John lets out a yawn still holding onto the door now to keep himself stable, “...Alright, see you later I will make sure to call you later if something... goes wrong.” Lestrade starts to walk off to the stairs and waves back to John before heading down. John slowly shuts the door to his flat still managing to hold on to the briefcase.

He starts to drag his slipper covered feet back to his lukewarm bed then his phone starts to buzz letting out a small growl at the tough it was just a random call bothering him from dreamland, “I just want to sleep... is that all a man could ask for.” Walking over to his phone he picks it up seeing it was not just anyone random bothering him now but his one and only good friend Sherlock.

Letting out a deep breath calming down and answered, “Early morning, and if I’m guessing your wondering who came by if not...” he yawns again. “Then tell me later I am going to head back to sleep for shopping later.” 

“Lestrade gave you something from my brother and I will be coming by in a bit to get it, leave it where you are now. Yes, I know where you keep the spare key and John goes back to sleep.”

“Thank you, good... night.” He hangs up the phone then sets the case down on his wood floorboards making them creak like little bullfrogs. He grabs onto the countertop to gain back some balance before hobbling back to his room trying not to fall.

Dragging each slipper back and over one another creaking each one of the floorboards that covered the flat he makes it back to the bedroom. Slipping of each of his slippers he jumps onto the large navy army green comfier and cream sheet covered bed worming under each sheet getting all snuggly and warm again ready to go back to his little dream world. He shuts his eyes and smiles ready for what is to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for checking out my first ever FanFiction I do not currently have an editor but I am still checking up on the flow and some errors here and there and at the moment this is still a work in progress with at the moment no end in sight but due to school workload updates will happen at random or when I have enough story in the backlog to post a bit more.


	2. Sherlock sneaks into johns flat

Sherlock leaves his flat and starts to walk up the creaking stairs to John’s flat. Sherlock tried to keep it as quiet as he could just to keep John from waking up from his nice little dream. He finally arrives at the top of the stairs ready to retrieve the package his brother left for him to deal with.

The loft upstairs where John’s flat resided was a cozy little corner of the wall. Some small plants and a pair of shoes sat out by his door cluttered but still kept a look of a decent-looking modern exterior. The only thing that would keep it looking better was a change of the wallpaper on the walls worn down and in need of a change. Next to the door of John’s flat was a hole. The wallpaper was a bit worn down revealing the small hole, just big enough to hide the spare key. He looked down at his hands knowing only one would fit in the hole to fish it out. He walked over to the hole and stuck his middle finger in it fishing it around looking for the key. 

He manages to drag the key out of the small hole with his middle finger dropping it on the floorboards of the upstairs. A ‘Klink’ echoed throughout the upstairs causing sherlock to flinch a bit and worry about if it woke up John at all. He looks around at the other doors within the vicinity of John’s flat, letting out a deep breath he proceeds to grab the key to open the door of the small flat.

Sherlock slowly opens the door making sure to keep the creaking down to not awaken John and checking if he did not put any extra locks on before he went to sleep. Knowing John might have not done that at all he starts to open it. The green oak door opens wide enough for Sherlock to slip in and grab the case. Sneaking in, he steps as slow as he can with his bare feet watching each board knowing one might give away what cover he might have had left. Better luck than John had a while ago he makes it over to the case and grabbing it.

John starts to snore in his bedroom down the hall from the kitchen causing Sherlock to chuckle a bit something he tends to hide often from John and others. John wakes up hearing the chuckle. “Hello... is someone... here.”

Sherlock hears John speak across the flat dropping the case on his toes as he was starting to open it. The drop caused some of the chemicals to fall out and shakeup. Each rolling across the floor all around his feet. He starts to tear up and bites down on his hand covering up the scream he was about to make.

John wakes up from the echo of the bang of the black leather case falling on the wooden floorboards in his small flat. In a fearful shock, he knows that something is completely wrong. He starts to worry about if he is getting robbed at the moment even though he completely forgot Sherlock was coming by to get the case. He jumps out of bed skipping his slippers on and heads right to the small wooden dresser to pull out his small handgun. He pulls open the drawer almost ripping it out from the dresser and shaking open the small white cigarette-looking box holding the brass golden shells for the gun. His shaky panicked hand grabs the gun causing the drawer of the dresser to fall by his feet. Each of the shells jumps out like little frogs all around his feet. He starts to pick them up hastily putting them in the gun.

Sherlock starts to scatter around the room grabbing all of the still-sealed chemicals that fell out of the case and then try to book it out of there as soon as he can knowing at any moment John might mistake him for a robber of some sort. One by one he shoves each of the glass viles in the black leather case. Checking around in slightly panicked but composting emotions he slams the case echoing within his ears and around the flat. Trying to make a run for it he trips over on the rug that tripped over John earlier in the morning causing him to fall face-first into the case.

John runs out into the living room of his flat holding the gun out ready to shoot the intruder. Ready to shoot he stops calming down a slight bit seeing it was just sherlock. “Oh god! Sherlock are you alright!”

“Well, I forgot you were coming over and thought someone was trying to rob me, Sherlock!” He crosses his arms while tapping his foot angrily knowing Sherlock scared him half to death.

“Remind me not to wake you up again if you are going to shoot me then!”

“Fine, we are not talking about this again ok. Now let’s just get you off the ground you caused me enough panic this morning. Next to Greg waking me up and this looks like today is going to be a mess.” Letting out a deep breath he walks over to the tripped-over holmes letting out a hand.

Sherlock grabs John’s hand propping himself up stabilizing himself once more. “Thanks for the hand. Now let’s get down to why we were given this case if you can remember anything Lestrade told you if any.”

John starts to ponder on what he was told but just blanking out on the entire conversation. “Nope. I have no idea what he told me and what was inside it.”

“Well, before coming up to your flat to collect this case Mycroft sent me a text about what this case held, and just like you, he was confused on the properties of the chemicals leading to no results or some interesting cases.”

John looks down at the case behind Sherlock’s feet starting to show some concern about what this case holds if it may be more than what it may seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for checking out my fic I do have some big plans for it soon.


	3. Sherlock and the case

Both men are standing in the semi-dark flat knowing the dangerous item behind one of their toes. Each of the viles holding the clear tinted purple liquid was not broken on impact but now activated like a fresh bottle of champagne ready to burst. Both look back at the darken case then back at each other.

A look of concern still lingering on John’s face. “What interesting cases... Sherlock.”

Sherlock starts to think about what those cases might be leaving him in awe of what it might be. “That’s what I would like to know about. Still keep your chin up John we both have a long day ahead of us.”

John smiles back at Sherlock then patting his back. “Yeah, you are right about that and in the meantime, I could go shopping down as Tesco while I am at it.”

“Get me a jar of pickles while you are at it. It has been a while since I made sandwiches.” He smiles presently back at John knowing it is something he does not do often for his friend.

John nods back showing off his big toothy grin before heading back into his bedroom to put the gun away.

John shouts from his bedroom. “Hey, call me if anything happens!”

Sherlock shouts back, “Don’t worry I will!”

Sherlock grabs the case off of the strangled flat cream carpet. He starts to check the sides of the case and the small golden laches that rest upon the top of the leather case making sure it is as sealed as will be temporary. Some scratches laced upon the case each looking like small little cat scratches are now dug into it. He notices something very pedicular dripping out. It was different from the chemical within each of the viles within the case. This was red and why might it be that way Sherlock wonders. Dragging his finger upon the spot it was dripping it starts to sting a bit. Feels like a small papercut was just created upon the spot. 

Pulling his finger back he shakes it in the air to cool it down. “Why does this sting so much.” He ponders upon the thought.

Knowing this case and viles holding this unknown solution was more intriguing than Sherlock imagined he rushes back downstairs toward his flat for testing.  
Little does he know Mycroft held back some information. Information that will cost Sherlock dearly.

He barges into his flat the smell of acids from the small lab he has made in the kitchen rushes into his nose. “let’s get to the bottom of what this case is about at least before John gets back.”

Walking over to the small wooden table it was full of tubes, viles, flasks all over the place. Some were short-covered in the residue of blood and deer fat from one of these past experiments. Another held a dark Prussian blue sealed off above a Bunsen burner ready to be heated once more. Hoses jumped from one flask to another like roller-coaster loops knotted and seeming like they go on and on for miles with no start to each nor an end. Some broken glass laid down upon the wooden floorboards at the end of the other side bleaching the wood into a yellow tinge. A mold was growing alongside some of the pieces something John has told Sherlock to clean but it is all for an experiment he says. 

Pushing some of the tubes and viles away he sets the case upon the small table. For a table that size it seemed like Sherlock could not even find one little thing upon it, but he knew where everything lied. Before opening the case, he walked off to his room to find a pair of socks just to keep the noise down while he is in focus. Digging in each of the small olive dressers that were next to his bedside he finds a pair. An old pair of white tube socks with one little red and blue stripe at the top. He slips them on making sure they still fit after the last time he put them on. Nodding that they fit on just fine he walks back to the kitchen ready to start the experiment.

He rests his hands upon the case feeling the cover checking for the red liquid again. Nothing just absolutely nothing, not even the scratches that were on the case. This was strange even for Sherlock’s standards. Examining the case once more it looks like nothing even happened. He does the second-best option and starts to sniff the case for any trace of this unknown acid that has gotten on this finger a while ago.

He pulls his head back up. “Nothing about this case is even ordinary. What am I missing that Mycroft did not tell me?” He grabs out his phone and sets it next to the case just in case if a text comes in from John or his brother.

Sherlock opens the case seeing each vile back in each of the slits in the foam. ‘This is getting stranger could it be some unknown forces messing with his head’ he thinks.

Grabbing one of the viles of the light purple clear-looking liquid he grabs one of the closest flasks and pours the liquid slowly into it. He lets it sit still in the flask for a moment before looking down the round glass bit on the flask. Setting it down he grabs the note pad resting on one of the small wooden chairs behind him and a pencil off the shelf holding one of the few large books, each of the books resting on this shelf were thicker than the harry potter novels each holding general knowledge of the world, science, and some just about nature. After tearing out his old notes in the note pad each falling upon the floor like feathers in the wind, he starts to take notes about the liquid. Looking down the glass tube of the flask he notices it starts to bubble a small bit. He stares at it more till his phone buzzes.


	4. Sherlock are you ok

He sets the chemical down on the table to check his phone. A text comes in from Molly. “Of course, it’s Molly...” He starts to type out his message not noticing the chemical bubbling more and more as it sits in the flask.

SH- Something interesting going on at the morgue today.

MO- Oh...

SH- Is something wrong?

MO- No just wanted to bother you while I am on my break right now.

SH- Well sense you are curious about what I am doing I cannot spill any details on what I am working on now.

MO- Experiments again ;)

SH- Yes... but right now I am in the middle of one. Text me later if you want otherwise enjoy your break.

MO- Will do :)

Sherlock sets his phone back down at the table and looks at the chemical once again. He notices it’s bubbling more than it was a few seconds ago. He picks it up again putting it a bit too close for comfort to his face. Fumes start to come up as each little bubble pops. It overtakes Sherlock's nose in a matter of minutes. He sets it back down on the table knowing something is completely off.

His eyes are as big as saucers now just like a cat-on-catnip. He looks down at his hands and starts to move them around each lagging a bit behind creating a vintage VHS effect without the ripples. Looking around the room everything was moving a slight bit not a whole lot but enough for him to grab onto the table. He starts to feel a bit dizzier and more lightheaded. He grabs the flask holding the chemical and starts to shake it around activating it more. He holds it above his head smiling with glee and looking at how beautiful the purple liquid shines within the flask. He feels happy like he has never been before. A childlike feeling, he has long since forgotten but has come back at right within his own hands. His phone buzzes again and it startles him dropping the flask on top of his head. The purple liquid starts to drip down his face blinding him. The flask lands back on the table but shatters on contact scaring Sherlock a bit.

“W... Who turned out the lights?” Sherlock stutters a bit holding his hands out to find something to grab on too. His phone buzzes again trying to find it. He steps his foot forward resting it on one of his larger test tubes that he left on the ground. He starts to stumble, losing his balance backing up into the nearby bookcase hard. The wall and bookcase shake a bit causing the overbearing shelf above him to give out.

One by one each of the large books that he had on the shelf hits his head. From the history of the world to nature and wildlife each pushing his head closer and closer to his chest like a turtle going back into its shell. Now, he was seeing stars after it was all done. “Johnny, look at pretty starz.” He points one last time up at the ceiling before passing out on top of the pile of books.

A few hours pass and John makes it back to Sherlock's flat with all the groceries. He notices the door was never locked. ‘Sherlock always locks his door when doing experiments.’

He opens up the door wide into the living room. ‘It is way too quiet.’ He thinks. He sets the groceries over by the front door before shutting it.

“Sherlock, are you here?” No response comes back.

Now, something is completely wrong. John rushes past their chairs and toward the kitchen. There on the floor covered in books and a red liquid is Sherlock out cold.

“Oh, God!” John runs over to Sherlock and pulls him out from the books and drags him over to the couch in the back of Sherlock’s flat. He props him up with a pillow and rushes back to the kitchen to grab a cold wet rag to clean off the red substance.

Sherlock moves a bit aching in pain while in his dark unknown sleep. John comes rushing back with the dripping rag ready to care for sherlock.

“Do not move too much Sherlock, you are alright. We will figure out what is wrong with you and contact your brother about the briefcase.” John rubs off the red substance that hardened over his eyes making a bit of the stinging pain go away.

Sherlock mumbles something in his sleep before waking up.

“Take it easy Sherlock, just keep your head on that nice feather pillow Mrs. Hudson got for you.” John keeps his hand planted on Sherlock's chest to keep him down.

Sherlock starts to blink his eyes still wide as saucers. He looked like a little kitten to John just the look in face waking up. John takes his hand off Sherlock’s chest and hugs him. “I’m glad you are alright; you look perfectly fine to me but the bump on the top of your head. I will get some ice for that if you want.”

Sherlock is not sure what he needs to say, but he feels like he is a newborn baby just now learning about the world around him and figuring out who he is. He is left confused on if he needs to copy this person in front of him it feels like he should. His gut is telling him, yes but something in his head of his says no.  
Sherlock has been staring at John for a few minutes now not blinking at all. “Sherlock are you sure you are alright. I could call your brother and he could come over right now.”

“No need um... what is your name?”

“Ok, I am calling your brother.” John walks off a bit to call up Mycroft on what is going on.

Sherlock blinks again. This time feels different than before like his mind has attached to an idea of something. He sits up and looks over at John. “Sherlock, how did I get over here and why am I wearing your clothing.”

John looks back over at Sherlock and mouths oh fuck.


End file.
